Court of the King's Bench Temp Henry VI chromolitho
The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a female monarch), formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was an English court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the curia regis, initially following the monarch on his travels, the King's Bench finally joined the Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas in Westminster Hall in 1318, making its last travels in 1421. As one of the two principal common law courts along with the Common Pleas, the King's Bench's jurisdiction and caseload was significantly challenged by the rise of the Court of Chancery and equitable doctrines in the 15th and 16th centuries. To recover, the King's Bench undertook a scheme of revolutionary reform, creating less expensive, faster and more versatile types of pleading in the form of bills as opposed to the more traditional writs. Although not immediately stemming the tide, in the long term it helped the King's Bench not only recover but increase its workload. While there was a steep decline in business from 1460 to 1540, as the new reforms began to take effect the King's Bench's business was significantly boosted; between 1560 and 1640, it rose tenfold. While good for the King's Bench, the Common Pleas became suspicious of the new developments, as legal fictions such as the Bill of Middlesex damaged its own business. Fighting against the King's Bench in a reactionary and increasingly conservative way, an equilibrium was eventually reached in the 17th century. Reaching an acceptable medium with the Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas proved to be the downfall of all three courts; with several courts of near-identical jurisdiction, there was little need for separate bodies, and the superior courts of Westminster were merged by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 into a single High Court of Justice. The King's Bench thus ceased to exist, except as the King's Bench (now Queen's B
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